Fresno City College students say the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan are touching them personally.
Steven Martinez, an FCC student, said he was terrified for his brother who is in the U.S. Army and posted in Japan. “He was pretty close to the Earthquake.
I thought my brother was dead,” Martinez said. “It scared the whole family; my mother was so worried she panicked until we heard from him.”
Martinez and his whole family have stayed on high alert and are very concerned about speculations of a nuclear explosion or meltdown. “It still freaks me out,” he said.
Also concerned is Whitney Chessume, an FCC English major, who used to live in Taiwan as an exchange student and made friends with Japanese students with whom she took classes.
“One of my friends is still missing; he’s from Osato,” Chessume said. “The rest of them are just fine. My friends are in Toyko; they really don’t know what’s going on in the rest of Japan; they have no signal. They lost their signal, so it’s hard for them to communicate with me.”
Other FCC students and instructors say they were glued to the television all weekend as multiple images of a devastated Japan flashed nonstop. On March 11, 2011 at about 2:46 p.m. local, an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit the northeast corner of Japan. This earthquake was closely followed by a tsunami, and now nuclear reactor meltdown threats that have the world quaking.
While over 1,500 earthquakes take place each year in Japan, this earthquake has is the fifth largest quake since 1900. For those in Japan, 40 plus story buildings shook and swayed all around. Vases and lamps broke in houses as furniture moved feet away from their original locations.
Nearly an hour after the earthquake hit, tsunami warnings became Japan’s reality. Walls of water grew to 12-15 feet high, crashing into anything and everything in its way.
People were stranded in the top stories of buildings and houses waving white flags, hoping to be rescued. The current of the tsunami were reported to be at the speed of 500 mph. Airports were shut down and the busy and trains screeched to a halt. Whole villages ceased to exist.
As the water covers parts of the country, aftershocks continue to hit the Japanese islands. Japan is also dealing with the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station reactors leaking, as people are becoming exposed to radiation. They are currently evacuating those nearby.
Tsunami warnings were spread to other countries along the Pacific and even parts of the USA. Hawaii was hit about 7 hours later with 7-11 feet of waves.
Oregon was later hit with 3-4 feet waves. Bringing it much closer to home, California was hit as well, suffering $40 million in damage statewide. Twelve Californians were reported missing; at least one is reported dead.
Ten thousand Japanese are estimated to be missing in one providence alone.
At least 88,000 are expected to be missing.
There are 4,993 buildings that are completely destroyed or collapsed, 40,000 damaged, and counting. Over 2.5 million homes are without electricity (4 percent of Japan) as 500,000 are without water. Over 200,000 Japanese have been evacuated from their homes. Businesses such as Toyota and Sony have stopped production.
Lisa Smith, student of FCC was planning on going to Japan for a family vacation this summer. Now Lisa says, “Maybe if it gets better up there, we probably go to Tokyo or somewhere if it’s not into rubble.”
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